CORPORATE POLICY AND PROCEDURES
MANUAL
Policy No:
M
HR
018
Policy Name:
HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY - RESIDENTS
DEVELOPED BY:
Human Resources Division
DATE:
27 Feb 2015
DEPARTMENT:
ADOPTED BY:
Chief Administrative Officer
DATE:
RESOLUTION NUMBER:
EFFECTIVE:
CROSS-REFERENCE:
REVISIONS:
27 Feb 2015
POLICY STATEMENT AND RATIONALE:
The Corporation of the City of Kawartha Lakes is committed to providing an environment where
the dignity and worth of every person is demonstrated; and equal opportunity exits.
Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, every person has the right to freedom from
discrimination and harassment. Discrimination and harassment will not be tolerated, condoned,
or ignored at the Corporation of the City of Kawartha Lakes. The Corporation of the City of
Kawartha Lakes is committed to ensuring that everyone knows her or his rights and
responsibilities under the Ontario Human Rights Code; regular monitoring of organizational
systems for barriers based on Code grounds; providing an effective and fair complaints
procedure; and promoting appropriate standards of conduct at all times.
SCOPE:
The right to freedom from discrimination and harassment extends to everyone when accessing
city services for professional or personal reasons. Citizen advisory committees/bodies,
members of the public, visitors to and users of City facilities/public space and individuals
conducting business with, for or with support from the City of Kawartha Lakes, are expected to
adhere to this policy. If such discrimination and/or harassment occur, the City of Kawartha
Lakes will take action, including barring a harasser from its facilities, limiting services,
discontinuing business and/or revoking contracts with consultants or contractors
This Policy applies at every level of the organization and to every aspect of the relationship,
including recruitment and selection, access to services, treatment by staff and contractors
working on behalf of the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Policy No: M HR 018
Policy Title: Human Rights Policy - Employees
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Individuals who have experienced discrimination or harassment by employees or
representatives of the City of Kawartha Lakes are encouraged to make their concerns known by
following the complaints procedures as outlined below.
Social Areas and Prohibited Grounds
This Policy prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of the following ground, and any
combination of these grounds based on:
a. Services and Facilitates: Every person has the right to equal treatment with respect to
accessing city services and facilities, social services and social housing;
b. Employment: Every person has a right to equal treatment in employment related
services such as recruitment.
The prohibited grounds include:
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Race
Citizenship
Ancestry
Place of origin
Colour
Sexual orientation
Creed (religion)
Sex (including pregnancy, breast feeding)
Marital status (including the status of being married, single, widowed, divorced,
separated or living in a conjugal relationship outside of marriage, whether in a same sex
or opposite sex relationship)
Family status (such as being in a parent-child relationship)
Record of offences (criminal conviction, conviction for a provincial offence, or for an
offence for which a pardon has been received)
Gender identity
Gender expression
Age
Ethnic origin
Disability (including mental, physical, developmental or learning disability)
Association or relationship with a person identified by one of the above grounds
Perception that one of the above grounds applies.
DEFINITIONS:
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA): Purpose clause: “Recognizing the
history of discrimination against persons with disabilities in Ontario, the purpose of this Act is to
benefit all Ontarians by, (a) developing, implementing and enforcing accessibility standards in
order to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities with respect to goods, services,
facilities, accommodation, employment, buildings, structures and premises on or before January
1, 2025; and (b) providing for the involvement of persons with disabilities, of the Government of
Ontario and of representatives of industries and of various sectors of the economy in the
development of the accessibility standards.”
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Allegation: An allegation is an unproven assertion or statement based on a person’s
perspective that the policy has been violated.
Barrier Review: A review within the organization to understand whether barriers under the
Ontario Human Rights Code exist. A barrier review should include looking at the physical
accessibility of premises, organizational policies, practices and decision-making processes and
the organizational culture including patterns of informal social behaviour.
Complainant: The person alleging that discrimination or harassment occurred. There can be
more than one complainant in a human rights complaint.
Discrimination: Discrimination is any practice or behaviour, whether intentional or not, which
has a negative impact on an individual or group because of membership in a group protected in
the Ontario Human Rights Code (e.g., disability, sex, race, sexual orientation, etc.)
Discrimination may arise as a result of direct differential treatment or it may result from the
unequal effect of treating individuals and groups in the same way. Either way, if the effect on the
individual is to withhold or limit full, equal and meaningful access to goods, services, facilities or
employment available to other members of society, it is discrimination and a violation of this
policy.
Duty to Accommodate: The legal obligation to take steps to eliminate disadvantage caused by
systemic, attitudinal or physical barriers that unfairly exclude individuals or groups protected
under the Ontario Human Rights Code. It also includes an obligation to meet the special needs
of individuals and groups protected by the Code unless meeting such needs would create
undue hardship. Failure to accommodate a person short of undue hardship is a form of
discrimination.
Employee: For the purpose of this policy, the term employee includes: City of Kawartha Lakes
employees, and individuals performing services directly on the organization’s behalf whether
with or without compensation or benefit.
Equal Treatment: Equal treatment is treatment that brings about an equality of results and that
may, in some instances, require different treatment. For example, to give all employees equal
treatment in entering a building, it may be necessary to provide a ramp for an employee who
requires the use of a wheelchair.
Harassment: Provisions regarding harassment are included in both the Ontario Human Rights
Code, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Harassment under the Ontario Human
Rights Code may result from one incident or a series of incidents. Harassment can occur
between employees and vendors, between employees and recipients of municipal services, and
between employees and members of the public.
Harassment as defined in the Ontario Human Rights Code means engaging in a course of
vexatious comment or conduct that is known, or ought reasonably to be known, to be
unwelcome based on one or more of the prohibited grounds listed in the Ontario Human Rights
Code. It can involve words or actions that are known or should be known to be offensive,
embarrassing, humiliating, demeaning, or unwelcome, based on a ground of discrimination
identified by this Policy.
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Harassment can occur on any of the grounds of discrimination.
include, but are not limited to:
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Examples of harassment
Epithets, remarks, jokes or innuendos related to an individual’s race, sex, disability,
sexual orientation, creed, age, or any other ground;
Display or circulation of offensive pictures, graffiti, pornography, racist, homophobic or
other offensive materials, whether in print form or via e-mail or other electronic means;
Use of electronic communications such as the internet and email to harass;
Singling out an individual for humiliating or demeaning “teasing” or jokes because they
are a member of a protected group;
Spreading rumours that damage one’s reputation;
Comments ridiculing an individual because of characteristics, dress etc. that are related
to a ground of discrimination;
Insulting gestures;
Refusing to work with another;
Condescending or patronizing behaviour; and
Abuse of authority which undermines performance or threatens careers.
All of the above must be based on or related to one of the prohibited grounds in the Ontario
Human Rights Code.
There is no legal obligation for an individual to tell the harasser to stop. The fact that a person
does not explicitly object to harassing behaviour, or appears to be going along with it does not
mean that the behaviour is not harassing, and does not mean that it has been assented to.
Racial Harassment: Racial harassment is harassment on the ground of race. It may also be
associated with the grounds of colour, ancestry, where a person was born, a person’s religious
belief, ethnic background, citizenship or even a person’s language. Racial
harassment/discrimination can include:
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racial slurs or jokes
ridicule, insults or different treatment because of racial identity
posting/e-mailing cartoons or pictures that degrade persons of a particular racial group
name-calling because of a person’s race, colour, citizenship, place of origin, ancestry,
ethnic background or creed
Resident: For the purpose of this policy, the term resident refers to individuals who live in the
City of Kawartha Lakes or individuals who have access to goods, services, facilities or who are
seeking employment at the City.
Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is a form of harassment that can include:
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a sexual advance or solicitation from anyone if the person knows or ought to know the
advance is unwelcome - especially if the advance is from a person in a position to give
or deny a benefit (this includes manager and supervisors as well as coworkers), to
engage in a reprisal, or if a threat of reprisal is made if the advance is rejected;
sexually suggestive or obscene remarks or gestures;
leering (suggestive staring) at a person’s body;
unwelcome physical contact; and
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having to work in a sexualized environment (discussions about sexual activities);
circulation or posting of sexist jokes or cartoons, display of pin-up calendars or other
objectifying images;
negative stereotypical comments based on gender, sex or sexual orientation gender
related comments about an individual’s physical characteristics or mannerisms and/or
behaviours that reinforce traditional heterosexual gender norms; and
exercising power over another person, making them feel unwelcome or putting them 'in
their place' – motivated by sexual interest.
Prohibited (Protected) Grounds: The list of grounds for which a person or group is protected
under the Ontario Human Rights Code. See Scope for a list of prohibited grounds.
Reasonable Person Test: This is an objective standard to measure whether a comment or
conduct is discrimination or harassment. It considers what a reasonable person's reaction would
have been under similar circumstances and in a similar environment. It considers both the
recipient's perspective and that of a reasonable person and not stereotyped notions of
acceptable behaviour. This standard is used to assess human rights complaints under this
policy.
Respondent: The person who is alleged to be responsible for the action of discrimination or
harassment. There can be more than one respondent in a human rights complaint.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Under the Code, employers, service providers and housing providers have the responsibility for
ensuring a healthy and inclusive environment and for preventing and addressing discrimination
and harassment, making their organization free from discriminatory and harassing behaviour.
Individuals, who have concerns that a particular behaviour, policy or procedure has breached
the intentions of this policy, have the responsibility to make management aware of their
concerns.
The City of Kawartha Lakes is committed to the following processes in an attempt to remove
and address situations of discrimination and harassment under the Ontario Human Rights
Code:
1) development and enforcement of organizational policies and procedures;
2) development and administration of a complaints procedure that allows a fair process to
resolve concerns;
3) defined responsibilities for all members of the organization in order to promote
adherence to the Ontario Human Rights Code;
4) regular review of organizational policies and procedures in order to address the
existence of barriers; and
5) recurring training and educational opportunities to increase organizational understanding
of the Ontario Human Rights Code and best practices.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1.0
Duties of all management staff (composed of the CAO, Directors, Managers and
Supervisors) and contractors or representatives of the City of Kawartha Lakes
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1.01
Management staff will not engage in behaviour that would constitute discrimination or
harassment when engaged in activities or providing services on behalf of the City of
Kawartha Lakes. Management staff who subject an individual to discrimination or
harassment may be subject to disciplinary action which can include termination from
employment or removal from a board or cancellation of a contract.
1.02
Management staff must model respectful behaviour; setting and enforcing standards of
appropriate conduct and processes; and remaining alert to incidents of discrimination
and harassment that may be occurring in their departments or divisions.
1.03
Management staff will take all necessary steps to deal with allegations/incidents of
discrimination and harassment, which they are aware of, even if a direct complaint has
not been made.
1.04
Management will ensure that they along with their direct reports are educated to
recognize instances of potential barriers under the Ontario Human Rights Code;
performing regular barrier reviews to ensure barriers do not exist.
2.0
Duties of all Employees
2.01
Employees will be familiar with their responsibilities under this policy.
2.02
Employees will not engage in behaviour that would constitute discrimination or
harassment towards members of the public.
2.03
Employees will immediately inform their supervisors of harassment or discrimination
which is experienced or witnessed; documenting the details of the event.
2.04
Employees will co-operate in good faith in interventions and investigations to resolve
human rights discrimination and harassment issues.
2.05
Employees will maintain confidentiality related to human rights investigations.
3.0
Duties of Human Resources
3.01
Human Resources will remove barriers in employment policies and practices that may
have the effect of discriminating against groups/individuals that are protected under the
Ontario Human Rights Code and Accessibility of Ontarians with Disabilities Act. In
addition, Human Resources will provide support to departments in addressing issues of
discrimination and harassment related to public interactions.
3.02
Human Resources will provide training for management and employees on the Human
Rights Code Policy, and related legislative obligations, and maintain information/data on
annual divisional participation in human rights training.
3.03
In the event an individual believes that discrimination or harassment under the Ontario
Human Rights Code has occurred they may file a formal complaint to the City of
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Kawartha Lakes. The Human Resources division will receive copies of Human Rights
Complaint Forms (Residents) from members of the public and will ensure that the
complaint is fully investigated. The City may attempt to resolve the issues informally
through discussions with the individual; or may choose to investigate the events using
the services of an external investigation organization.
4.0
Concerns/Complaints
4.01
Human Rights Complaint Form (Residents) and instructions for submission can be found
on the City of Kawartha Lakes website.
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